This Is Our Moment

Senior Year. Who would have thought we'd make it this far? The semester is off to a good start and I don't really have to many complaints. I'm already freaking out about my thesis, but I'm pretty sure I've decided on a topic, I've gotten my Library of Congress card and have requested 14 books from the consorsium. Plus I'm meeting woith my advisor tomorrow.

For the most part, I'm enjoying my classes. Washington: Symbol and City is pretty much amazing. I'm so excited about that class. It's freaking awesome. My Nazism class isn't too bad, but hella note taking and outside reading. And its being taught by the new chair of the department, so I want to do well in the class. I'm sure it will be fine though. Media is gonna be a bitch, simply because it is a class conprised of 42 freshman, John Lynsky, Alyssa LaCorte and myself. Tons of bitchwork. But I've had the prof before and she really likes me so I don't forsee getting anything less that a straight A in that class.

I'm pretty sure I'll have a mental breakdown at some point this semester. My roommates will come back to find me passed out on the foof chair with a cold washcloth over my eyes and a pile of ww2 propoganda books surrounding me. Possibly some redbull cans scattered around. in any event, it wont be a pretty site.

I think I'm dying of the swine flu. not really, but I am losing my voice. For no real reason, because I feel fine other than this terrible cough and the fact that I cant talk. Shit. I hope its not like this all weekend. I've got shit to do. And I need to have a voice.

Knife Fight

I'm at work right now. I'm doing nothing. Just sitting. And I have been for a while. So, I said to myself "self, wouldn't this be a good time to blog about last night". And now that is exactly what I am doing.
Yesterday was Chris' birthday. The big two one. He said he was going to Brickskellers in Dupont with Karl, Kenny and Nick. After that, they were going to go to Irish Times and Erin and I were going to meet them there. That was the plan.
Well, they ended up drinking themselves into half a stupor at Brickskellers, so we went there to meet them. Erin, me, our roommate Ashley and Erin's friend David drove out there in Ashley's car. We got there at midnight. When we walked in Kenny and Nick were standing next to one another and they were the first two people we walked up to. I go to give Kenny a hug and then Nick. But Nick (being completely trashed) throws his arm out in front of Kenny, half knocks him over and throws his arms around me in this huge bear hug that nearly knocked me down. I tried to push him back onto his feet and Kenny had to grab him by the arm and pull him off me. A minute later Chris came over and gave me one of those "I'm drunk so I'm going to hug you and we'll sway back and forth for a minute" kind of hugs. He was trashed but in a great mood and drinking energy shots. Erin, David and I got a shot at the bar and the boys decided to go to Times because the bar was pretty quiet and they had been there for hours. Chris went outside for a cigarette while Karl, Nick and Kenny paid the bill. We told them that we were going to walk back to Ashley's car and we would meet them there, because they were going to get a cab.
When we went outside, I stood at the top of the steps to tell Chris we were going to meet him at Times, while everyone else walked down to the street level. Randomly, as I'm telling him this, some Asian guy standing next to Chris asks me if he can give me an obnoxiously big hug because he saw how I hugged Chris when we walked in. Apparently he'd been drinking with the boys all night. I just looked at him and was like "well, I've known Chris longer than anyone else here. That's why I hugged him." And I walked away.
Thirty or forty minutes later, the four of us are sitting at Times and Chris & co. still havent shown up. I text him and he responds wiht "complications. we'll be there soon." O...k... They got there a few minutes later and Chris and Kenny were all rialed up and hollering about a fight and the bill. Then Nick walked in. He had blood splattered on his shirt, his lip was busted open and he has a cut under his eye that was starting to swell. Apparently their waitress' boyfriend nad his friend got mad that they didn't leave a bigger tip so they came out and were yelling. Chris went back inside to leave the girl another $20 and these two guys start getting into a fight with Nick. Next thing you know, the boyfriend's friend pulls out a knife and tries to stab Nick. Kenny grabbed his arm from behind him, but they the boyfriend grabbed Kenny and pulled him back. For some reason Nick and Kenny were being held back, but hte guy with the knife wasn't restrained. Kenny said he was convinced at one point that Nick had been stabbed and started freaking out. Chris came back outside (after giving the girl a bigger tip) and was so pissed off. He wanted to go back inside and scream at the manager but Kenny and Nick just put him in a cab and they all came to Times looking a little worse for the wear, but just in time for last call.
After the bar closed we went back to campus and hung out outside and in the boy's room for a little while. Then I realized it was about 3:30 in the morning and I had to get up for work in 4 hours, so I went to bed.
In my opinion though, the best part of the night was the fact that I went out and had a shot of Absolut and three screwdrivers but didn't spend any money. Erin's friend David bought a round of shots at Brickskellers and then insisted on buying our drinks at Times too. I felt kinda bad, but hey, I didn't want to be rude and demand to pay for my own drink.

9 - 5

I think I may have found the perfect job for this summer. It's pretty low stress and easy going. Yesterday I had a lot going on because I was figuring out how to do different things and where everything was. It was sort of exciting, sort of boring. But hey, I don't know of many people who say they like work, whatever it is that they may be doing.
Today, Gail (the person I'm working for) called at 10:00 to say she wouldn't be coming in because she had to take her really, really old mother to the hospital. She then went into detail about her symptoms and the tests they were planning to run. Waaay more info than I needed. She gave me a list of about 4 or 5 things to do over the course of the day.... I was done with more than half of it by 11 and the last two things (handle the mail and pick up the checks from payroll) couldn't be done. So I hung out until I went to lunch, came back and took care of the mail, picked up the checks, and spent the next three hours reading my book. Occasionally the phone would ring and I'd take a message. That was the extent of it. I have a feeling this is what most of my days will be like since Gail won't be coming in to work on Mondays and Fridays starting next week. I could finish a book a week if this keeps up.
My hair dyer kind of exploded yesterday morning. It started shooting sparks and crackling. So today I had to go buy a new one. I knew it had been breaking for a while because it would work, and then other times it wouldn't. The fact that it semi-exploded was a little much though. I mean, was that really necessary? It could have just refused to turn on and it all would have been fine.
Tomorrow is Chris' birthday. I'm kind of excited for all of us to finally go out together. I'm sure we'll have a good time. Although, knowing the boys, it could be slightly scary what we end up doing. I could imagine us ending up in some strange bar in Adam's Morgan with no money for a cab, and no real idea how we ended up there. Hopefully, that's not what actually takes place.
This whole being at school with no school work thing it pretty nice. I could get used to it. I get back to my room and don't have to worry about doing anything other than relax or straighten up a bit. I did that today. This whole place was messy. I know I'm OCD, but it was legitimately messy. A dirty blender cup, dirty dishes, empty food boxes. It wasn't just me. It needed to be cleaned. Plus my g-rents are stopping by this weekend on their cross-country trip. And you know it needs to be clean for them because they really are insane. So I cleaned up. And I'll swiffer/vacuum later this week.
Time to go read. Less than 300 pages to go!! (the book is 973 pages long)

The District

I realize that I stopped writing and updating my blog. This is not due to me forgetting about it. Quite the contrary. I thought about posting several times. But when I tried to come up with something to talk about, I would come to the realization that nothing interesting and blog worthy had happened. But now I'm back in DC to start working and I'm sure my life will be slightly more interesting. So, I will now give a general update of the last two weeks. Lets see...
I worked at Harry's for most of the time I was home. It's never dull in that place. Every time I come home, there is a new bum to meet, or an update on the downwardly spiraling lives of our regular bums. We've got this new guy... I don't know his name, but he's a small skinny guy with no hair, most likely in his fifties. He comes in a couple of times a day, talking to himself. I don't mean mumbling. I mean a full conversation. And he's always carrying a small American flag. I think someone gave it to him at the Memorial Day parade last week. Damn people trying to be nice. Aside from that, Gary the Puppet and his band of misfits who live in an apartment across the street are getting more insane. This guy Gary has some kind of disease (I think MS) and he's all messed up. He's got a white trash wife. I mean waaaay white trash. She's got a daughter a couple months younger than me and a son about two years older than me. The son is the only slightly normal one. The daughter just had a baby last year and the poor kid has a trech in his throat cause his lungs didn't ully develop because the daughter was smoking weed while she was pregnant. These guys are pretty much at the bottom of our list of bums.
I got my hair cut on Thursday and colored on Friday. It's ver different and I really like it. It's shorter (only to my shoulder) and I've got a side bang . Plus it is layered with a face frame. The new cut, with the color.... its good summer hair. Hahaha.
Overall, home was pretty uneventful. My sister got into the National Honor Society. She's an overachiever and, while I was the vice president, she'll probably become the president. That's just the type of person that she is. My mom basically told me that Leigh Ann was too good to go to a school like Catholic. Thanks mom! My grandparents are coming home next week for my cousin Matt's wedding. They're driving again. And they said they might stop here over the weekend to take me to lunch and see me. That could be good or it could be bad. I'm not sure yet.
Yesterday the four of us took a trip into the city. My dad thought it would be a fun thing to do. And something different. I swear, for living so close to New York City, I don't go there very often and I probably know less about the city than some tourists. In certain regards. In other was, I definitely know more. Butwe dont go to the city that often. Why would we? It's such a hastle to sit in traffic and then pay $25 to park. There are crowds and its noisy and I don't really have much desire to do touristy things in New York. That just seems rediculous to me and everyone else I know. Well, we went to the city yesterday. We took a double decker tour, which was kind of cool. The guy told us a couple things we didn't know and we got to the see the city from a different perspective. That was nice. We got off in Chinatown and walked to Little Italy, where they just happened to be having a street festival for the Feast of St. Anthony. My sister and I convinced our parents to go to Ferrara's, which is (by far) the greatest bakery in the world. It's amazing. I got a lobster tail and an iced coffee. It was heaven. I always get the lobster tail when I'm there. They're just so damn good. It's something to be experienced. Just off the corner of Grand and Mulberry, if anyone is interested. So after the bakery, we took a cab to the western end of SoHo and went to the Tenenment Museum, which was really cool. There was an obnoxious lady, who thought she knew everything, on our tour though. I hate peopel like that. Why come on the tour if you know everythign already? Wht spend the money? Well, after we were done at the museum, we walked back to Little Italy to get dinnerbecause there were just so many good restaurants. While we were eating, they had a parade where a statue was carried up and down Mulberry Street and people gave donations and prayed to the saint. My dad (being the ass that he is) decided to go stand by the statue so I could take his picture and send it to his friend. They thought it was funny. So that was our day. We had a good time.
And now I'm back in DC and I have work in the morning. I'm sure it will be good and I'll have a fine time. I'm looking forward to just being able to settle into a routine and get used to things. It's like when you start the semester... you're still trying to remember where your classes are and figure out how the semester is going to work out in terms of work. By the end of the week, I'm sure I'll have it all figured out.
Ok, I am completely exhausted from getting up, packing my car, driving down here, unpacking my car, going to Giant, unpacking my room and setting everything up. So I'm going to read my book and go to bed early.

The Pillars of the Earth

So I started reading this book. It's called "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. I got it for Christmas last year, because I asked for it. It seems like everyone I know got this book last year for Christmas. At least, everyone from home who I know, who reads regularly. It was the hot gift book of the season.
The book is set in England (I swear, its fate) in the 1500s and its about this mason worker named Tom, who has this dream of builing a great Cathedral. I think somehow he does eventually get commissioned to build a Cathedral and then the reast of the book is about what happens during that whole time. It takes place over a ten year period.
Well, I started reading the book last Christmas when I got it and just never really got into it. It's a very long book (973 pages) and its a slow read. In no way is it any kind of light, beach read. Plus, its one of those books where you have to plow through the first 60 or 100 pages before it gets interesting. Like in "HP and the Sorcerer's Stone" when the first chapter or two are spent talking about Uncle Vernon and his job selling drills. That really draws you in. Or "The DaVinci Code", where you spend the first 50 pages reading about an albino monk and you're sitting there thinking, "what the fuck am I reading? I didn't know Tom Hanks was going to play an albino monk when they make the movie." This is kind of like that. Instead of just laying some background info and getting into the story, the first 65 pages are spent reading about Tom and his family and how they are trying to catch the theif who stole their pig. What does a pig have to do with building a Cathedral??? Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that this is not an easy book to get into.
The thing is, if it was just a hard book to get into and didn't seem that interesting, I would just put it on my shelf and not read it. Maybe my dad would pick it up one day and find it worth while. But there is a flip side to this. Everyone (and I mean everyone) who has read this book has said it is one of, if not the, greatest book they've ever read. Everyone from Oprah, to my aunt, to the manager at Harry's, to one of my friends from high school. People all over have been talking about his book. It's not that new either. The book was first published in 2002. But it has become extremtely popular in the past two years. Probably because Oprah named it one of her "book club" books and then gave away autographed copies at her "Oprah's Favorite Things" special last fall. Then miraculously, it was the hot book last Christmas. So Oprah and everyone else I've talked to has said it is the greatest book they ever read and I absoultely have to read it.
Now I'm starting it again. I've decided to make it my first book of the summer. That way, I'll have to finish it before I can read anything else and I can't push it off to the end because I'm reading other things and run out of time. Even if I dont like it, I'll still finish it.
It's actually starting to get kind of interesting. I'll let you know how I like it and if it is, in fact, the greatest book I've ever read.

It's a Sip of Wine, It's Summertime

I'M DONE!!!!! With papers, with the semester, with junior year. I'm done with all of it. It's amazing. I was convinced it would never end. But now its over and I'm home for the next three weeks. It's nice to be home and have nothing to do. It will be a relaxing three weeks. Then its back to DC for the summer!!! So excited!!!
So I'm watching The Sound o Music on ABC Family right now (god, I love having nothing to do). Last night I watched Notting Hill. Then it was on again this afternoon and I was compelled to sit and watch it again. Really, having nothing to do is fantastic.
Ahhh, so many season finales this week. I'm going to go nuts. Brothers & Sisters tonight. Twenty-four next week. Bones and Grey's Anatomy on Thursday. And I'm not working this week during any of them, which is sweeeeet. I'm only workng three days. I'm pretty sure my manager realized that I'd go crazy if I had to start working tomorrow morning.
Ok, I've still got a ton of unpacking to do. My mom is making me unpack everythign even though I'm going to school in three weeks. Very annoying!

Collegebox My Life

It's almost over! The end is in sight! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! ::insert other triumphant metaphors:: There is just one final that stands between me and summer. Unfortunately, that exam is philosophy and it may very well kick my ass. It is not going to be easy. I almost wish I'd had t on Tuesday and I had politics tomorrow. Then I could get away with not studying, because I'm mentally spent. I have no more energy to focus on anything.
On top of that, I had to get all of my shit packed for collegeboxes. They 're coming to pick everything up early tomorrow so I needed to get the bulk of my packing done today. I've got three boxes worth of stuff that I'm storing for the summer. Plus I'm leaving one box of stuff (mostly kitchen things), our beer pong table and the traffic cone with Erin Kilroy while I got home for three weeks. She's staying here and I think she'll be living with Liz and me this summer, so she said I could leave it with her till I get back. That's good because I've most likely got a car full of stuff to bring home. Some of it wont come back in June (like the tv) and I need to make sure I'll have room for the mini fridge to come back down. That will be my biggest challenge. I'm sure it will be fine though.
Ok, so I just got off the phone with my Dad. I told him I'm coming home Saturdya so that I can sleep Sunday, since I'm very sleep deprived. He followed that up with "did you call Eddie to get yourself on the schedule to work these next few weeks while you're home?" Is he kidding? I mean, yea I planned on working a bit while I'm home for three weeks so that I can make some cash to get me through the first two weeks down here, but my dad is like a slave driver. I just want to go to sleep! So now I have to call Harry's tomorrow to make sure that I can work for the next three weeks. God forbid I have a day off.
Well, I must go summon the will to study Aristotle and Rousseau. Not that it will be difficult, I mean who wouldnt want to study Aristotle and Rousseau all night? It's so much fun. Just... gag me now. Get it over with.